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O'Dell, Kathleen
6 Reviews
(2)
4-6
Clara tries to avoid the aviary beside the spooky old mansion where she lives with her housekeeper mother. When she realizes one of the birds is talking to her, Clara starts asking questions. With its early-twentieth-century setting, this story contains locked doors, a magician, and a neat supernatural twist. Clara's character is well developed and interesting as we watch her growing independence.
Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
November, 2011
(3)
4-6
Agnes's plan to survive middle school by staying invisible becomes difficult to maintain given her friendship with a perceived "dorky" boy and her role as campaign manager for best friend Prejean, running for seventh-grade president. The third-person, present-tense narrative is immediate and involving; characters are fresh and distinct. Agnes herself continues to be a sympathetic and believable "girl in progress."
Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano
(3)
YA
Mary Margaret Hallinan is a "one-best-friend type of person," and during the summer of 1967, Jane Stephens becomes that best friend. While Mary Margaret is a dutiful Catholic girl, Jane is reckless and daring. Jane takes the lead in their friendship, but Mary Margaret learns to follow her own instincts. The girls are well differentiated and their struggles ably realized.
Reviewer: Betty Carter
(3)
4-6
Agnes goes to science camp with her best friend Prejean only to find that they have been put in different cabins. The successive chapters of this breezy novel touch on the stresses and strains brought on by changing friendships, misunderstandings, camp high jinks, and typical growing pains. Agnes's escapades and new understanding of herself and others make this a strong story.
Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth
(2)
4-6
Fourth-grader Ophie has just moved from California to Oregon. She's stuck with two plainspoken outsiders as friends until the popular girls in class decide that she's socially acceptable after all. She ditches the outsiders but comes to her senses before it's too late. Thanks to O'Dell's sure and light touch, readers will hope to read more about Ophie in the future.
Reviewer: Rachel L. Smith
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
July, 2004
(2)
4-6
As Agnes begins sixth grade, her last year of elementary school, she still has just one friend; she is still "too known for [her] niceness"; and she remains easy prey for the class bully. Things begin to change when a new boy moves to town. Keeping readers inside Agnes's head, O'Dell shows the impact Joe has on her heart. This is a thoughtful, gently humorous, and resonant cusp-of-coming-of-age novel.
Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
March, 2003
6 reviews
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